An Australian court has denied Apple's request to appeal an overturned preliminary injunction of Samsung's Galaxy Tab, allowing the South Korean company to begin selling the device as early as next week.

The decision released on Thursday allows Samsung to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, ending an almost two month ban after Apple initially won a preliminary injunction against the device on claims that it copied the iPad's look and feel, reports Reuters.

Following a recent court decision that reversed the original injunction, Apple requested the ban stay in place until it could file an appeal with Australia's High Court. Although the iPad maker won a one-week extension, the court's final judgment to deny an appeal effectively lifts the ban of Samsung's tablet in time for the lucrative holiday season.

The decision is the second Samsung court win within a week, coming after Apple's similar request for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. was denied on Dec. 3.

Apple's legal battle with Samsung began in April when the Cupertino, Calif. company claimed patent infringement against certain Galaxy Tab and handset designs, saying the South Korean electronics maker copied the look and feel of the iPad and iPhone.

Samsung fired back with requests for injunctions against the iPhone 4S in at least four countries, alleging that Apple infringed on its 3G patents with the new smartphone. The company has yet to find success in banning Apple's handset, and was reportedly under investigation for using so-called FRAND patents in litigation.

Most recently, a French patent court denied the South Korean electronics maker's request for a ban, which is seen as a significant blow to Samsung's international case. The ruling noted that the industry-standard patents being leveraged against the iPhone 4S have effectively been exhausted, which could cause problems for Samsung if other courts agree with France's view.

Upcoming court dates see Samsung requesting injunctions against the iPhone 4S, including an Italian hearing in December and Australian hearings scheduled for March and April of 2012.

So far, courts seem to be very reluctant to block sales of products, perhaps because the industry moves so rapidly. It will be interesting to see how many units Samsung actually manages to sell. There is no competition from the Kindle Fire in Australia, at least not yet. Here in the US, the Tab has been on sale for quite a while, but hasn't gained much attention or traction because of the Fire.

Also, Samsung has lost several bids to block the iPhone 4S. My guess is that we'll see both Apple and Samsung make some changes over the next year to head off lawsuits, and perhaps modify their existing customer/supplier relationship.

An Australian court has denied Apple's request to appeal an overturned preliminary injunction of Samsung's Galaxy Tab, allowing the South Korean company to begin selling the device as early as next week.

People hate this bullshit. It may delay or even kill the competition, but the ill-will with the public remains.

Really how long are we gonna be bombarded with this ridiculous battle. I give up trying to figure all this out. There must be a happy medium. Where that will be who knows. I honestly think that the iPad 3 will change it and make the competition be lacking. We will have to see.

Does this mean Apple is now liable for damages for the loss of two months of Galaxy sales? Not that I imagine the number would be particularly high.

How high it would be depends on which arguements the judges accept. The lawyers for both parties sound more like the marketing department of the company they are not representing. Apple lawyers argue that Galaxy would decimate iPad sales, and Samsumg lawyers argue that Galaxy sales would barely impact on iPad sales. Lets see how quickly they both change their position if Samsung are entitled to damages.

Really how long are we gonna be bombarded with this ridiculous battle. I give up trying to figure all this out. There must be a happy medium. Where that will be who knows. I honestly think that the iPad 3 will change it and make the competition be lacking. We will have to see.

Apple needs to keep up the fight to punish and teach the copycats an expensive lesson otherwise when Apple releases an iPad3 everybody will just start up their copy machines again.

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." Douglas Adams

"Apple tried to stop us, copying their stuff, but the judge said that making it, look older was enough. Burma-Shave."

Ah, we have a winner.

Nope. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was physically redesigned in Germany (producing the Galaxy Tab 10.1N) in an attempt to bypass the community design in Germany. It has nothing to do with the case in Australia.

In Australia, the Samsung Galaxy Tab will not require any physical redesign to satisfy the courts for the purposes of the preliminary injunction -- in fact, the preliminary injunction simply doesn't exist anymore.